This invention relates to a process for growing sprouts, and in particular to such a process whereby the sprouts have a longer shelf life and are more tasty.
In the past sprouts of various grains, such as alfalfa, have been widely grown as a food source due to their high nutritional value. Typically, the process for growing the sprouts is to germinate seeds by soaking them overnight and thereafter placing the germinated sprouts in a container where they are periodically watered until they grow to the desired size. While refined processes have been developed for large scale production of sprouts, this basic growing procedure is still followed.
However, the husks of sprout seeds contain a toxin that is released when the seeds are soaked which is quite bitter to the taste. In addition, if the husks remain in water for an extended period of time, they start to decay and as a result promote and harbor to growth of bacteria. Heretofore the husks are left to remain with the sprouts and are continuously soaked in the water which nourishes them so that the sprouts also acquire the bitter taste of the toxin which has come to characterize them, and the resulting bacteria adversly effects their freshness. Also, since it would be extremely expensive to remove the husks once they have become interwoven in the mat which the growing sprouts create, the husks are harvested along with the sprouts which detracts from the aesthetic appeal of the sprouts and further embitter their taste.
In addition, the prior art processes for growing sprouts do not provide the necessary steps for sufficiently retarding that bacteria growth which is initiated. Therefore, the stems of the sprouts spoil prematurely which severly limit their self life. As a result of both of the foregoing limitations of the prior art processes for growing sprouts, the market for sprouts has not been widely developed, even though they contain a great amount of nutritional value.
The process of the present invention on the other hand, allows for systematic removal of the husks throughout the growing process so that the toxin generated by them is not absorbed by the sprouts, bacteria growth is minimized and the resulting sprouts are relatively free of the husks thereby providing a much more aesthetically pleasing appearance. In addition it provides periodic soaks in cool water to retard any bacteria growth which does occur in the sprouts which serves to maintain their freshness and provide long shelf life.
The process comprises continually circulating fresh water through the seeds during the germination process to flush the toxin out of the container in which germination takes place before it can be absorbed by the sprouts. Thereafter the sprouts undergo periodic cool water soakings and growing periods with measures being taken during the soakings to prevent the sprouts from becoming matted and to remove the husks from the container in which the sprouts are growing. Throughout each soaking in the first portion of the process (up to 48 hours), the sprouts are lightly worked by the operator's hands to prevent matting and to remove the husks. During the middle portion of the process (48 to 72 hours), the sprouts are heavily worked during each soaking and are also submerged thereby allowing the husks to float to the surface where they are removed by skimming the container. During the latter part of the process (from 72 hours on), after every soaking, which also includes heavy working, submerging and skimming, the sprouts are removed from the container and the container is cleaned. After approximately 144 hours the sprouts are fully grown and are allowed to dry before being packaged.
In order to maintain a nearly constant volume of sprouts in the container, the sprouts are progressively split into two parts and each part placed into separate containers after 72 and 96 hours.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a method for growing sprouts whereby the toxin which is produced by the seed husks is continually removed before it can adversely affect the taste of the sprouts.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a process whereby the husks also are periodically removed from the sprouts.
It is a still further object of the present invention wherein the sprouts are prevented from becoming tightly matted as they grow.
It is a yet further object of the present invention to provide such a process wherein progressive soaking and growing periods are timed so as to provide fresh long lived sprouts upon harvest.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide such a process which is arranged for growing a large number of sprouts in an efficient manner whereby labor demands are compressed into short predictable segments thereby reducing labor costs.
The foregoing objectives, features and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.